Democrat Dianne Curry drops out of lt. gov’s race LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The president of the Little Rock School Board announced Tuesday she was dropping her 2014 bid for lieutenant governor and is considering a run for a central Arkansas congressional seat. Dianne Curry, who launched her run for the state’s No. 2 constitutional office in June, announced her plans Tuesday morning after telling the Pulaski County Democratic Committee about her decision the night before. “What we are fighting for i...

1 missing inmate killed in crash, 2nd in custody NEWPORT (AP) — A Jackson County jail escapee has been killed during a police pursuit in Missouri. Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas says Steven Mitchell died Tuesday afternoon after crashing the vehicle he was driving while trying to elude police in Mtn. View, Mo. — about 140 miles north of Newport. Lucas says police stopped the vehicle driven by Mitchell’s wife about noon Tuesday for speeding and when she was removed from the car Mitchell go...

Settlement to return $167,000 to health care LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A pharmaceutical company that has agreed to pay almost $491 million to settle allegations it illegally marketed an organ transplant drug will return more than $27 million to state health care programs, including nearly $167,000 to Arkansas’. The settlement with Pfizer, Inc., was announced Tuesday and includes civil settlements with the federal government and the states totaling $257 million. About $230 million will go to the...

Crow tapped as Game and Fish deputy director LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says Jeff Crow has been selected to serve as the agency’s deputy director. The agency said Tuesday that Crow previously worked as chief of its enforcement division. Crow began his law enforcement career in 1986 as a wildlife officer with the Game and Fish Commission. In 1996, he accepted a position with the Arkansas State Police. And after 25 years in law enforcement, he took a job as a ...

Boating victim identified as Tennessee boy MIDWAY (AP) — Authorities have identified the 11-year-old boy who was killed in a boating accident on Bull Shoals Lake. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says William Feehan of Millington, Tenn., died in the accident Saturday in north Arkansas. Commission spokesman Keith Stephens says William fell off a tube and was accidentally struck by a boat driven by his father. Two others on the tube suffered minor injuries. Stephens tells The Baxter...

Auditor: $11.3M in unclaimed property returned LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Auditor Charlie Daniels’ office said $11.3 million in unclaimed property was returned to owners in the past fiscal year. Daniels’ office on Monday announced that more than 13,000 Arkansans received a check for unclaimed property during the fiscal year that ended June 30. The returns mark a 30 percent increase over the amount of claims paid in 2012. The office credited its new online claims process with driving up th...

Woman sues over handcuffed son’s deathLITTLE ROCK (AP) — The mother of a young man who authorities say fatally shot himself while handcuffed in the backseat of an Arkansas patrol car has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Jonesboro, its police chief and two officers. Lawyers for Chavis Carter’s mother, Teresa Rudd, filed the federal lawsuit on Friday — almost a year to the day after Carter’s death. Jonesboro police have faced criticism about the circumstances surro...

Cave restrictions remain over bat fungus WEST FORK (AP) — A fungus that is deadly to bats has been detected in two Arkansas caves and restrictions will remain in place to keep people out of most caves across the state. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Monday that the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats has turned up in a cave in Devil’s Den State Park and in a cave on private land in Baxter County. Wildlife officials say swabs taken from hibernating bats in Febru...

Ex-deputy pleads guilty in prostitution case TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — Federal prosecutors said a former Garland County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded guilty to a prostitution-related charge. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Arkansas said 39-year-old Neil Parliment pleaded guilty on Monday to a one-count information for arranging for a minor to travel to Hot Springs to engage in prostitution. Court documents state Parliment paid a girl for sex and arranged for her to have...

Fort Smith woman faces embezzlement sentence FORT SMITH (AP) — Prosecutors will ask a federal judge to sentence a former Fort Smith bank official who pleaded guilty to embezzlement to at least three years in prison. Mary Kay Newman, 45, pleaded guilty in March to embezzlement and misapplication of funds by a bank employee. A customer noticed that her bank statements stopped coming and discovered later that Newman had cashed a certificate of deposit worth $300,000. The Times Record newspa...

Restoration of dome underway at Capitol LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin says restoration of the state Capitol’s interior dome is underway. Martin announced the beginning of the project on Monday. He says a grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council is funding the restoration. Martin’s office says work on the project will continue through the fall. The dome’s interior will be repainted to be as historically accurate as possible, dating b...

Prosecutors want delay in ex-LR officer’s retrial LITTLE ROCK, (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking a delay in the retrial of a former Little Rock police officer charged with manslaughter. A ruling is pending with Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on a request to move the trial of ex-officer Josh Hastings to December. A jury deadlocked after a June trial in which Hastings claimed he was justified in shooting 15-year-old Bobby Moore III, who was caught breaking into cars at a Little Rock apartment compl...

Boy dies in boating accident on Bull Shoals Lake MIDWAY (AP) — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said an 11-year-old boy was killed over the weekend while boating on Bull Shoals Lake. Officials said the boy was riding on a tube behind a boat when the accident occurred. Game and Fish spokesman Keith Stephens said the boy’s father was driving the boat and tried to circle around after the boy fell from his tube. Stephens said the father accidentally struck the boy with the boat. The boy was...

1 killed, 1 hurt in ATV crash POUGHKEEPSIE (AP) — State Police said a woman was killed and a man was injured in an ATV crash in northeast Arkansas. Authorities said the incident happened Saturday evening at Poughkeepsie. State Police said Sara Michelle Croom, 28, of Cave City was driving the ATV when the vehicle lost control and overturned. It came to rest in a nearby ditch. Authorities said Billy Jewel Ray Croom, 34, of Cave City was injured in the crash. Two other passen...

Halter drops out of Arkansas governor’s raceLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter dropped out of the race for Arkansas governor on Monday, saying he wanted to avoid a divisive primary with former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross for the Democratic nomination in 2014. Halter, who entered the race in January, told supporters in an email that he was ending his bid for the state’s top office. A spokesman for Halter said the former lieutenant governor would not be available for further comment. ...

Water park likely linked to infection closesLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Health says a Little Rock water park has closed after officials said the facility was likely the source of a rare and potentially deadly brain infection. State Epidemiologist Dr. Dirk Haselow said Friday that the owners of Willow Springs Water Park voluntarily decided to close the park after meeting with health officials. Health officials recently confirmed a rare form of meningitis called pr...

Water park likely linked to infection closes LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A Little Rock water park closed this week after health officials said the facility was likely the source of a rare and often deadly brain infection, the Arkansas Department of Health said Friday. Health officials said a person who visited Willow Springs Water Park contracted a rare form of parasitic meningitis called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM. That condition is caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri, w...

ExxonMobil won’t halt housing aid MAYFLOWER (AP) — ExxonMobil says it won’t cut off temporary housing aid for people affected by an oil spill in central Arkansas this year. Company spokesman Aaron Stryk said Friday that temporary housing assistance for people whose homes were affected by the oil spill in Mayflower will not be cut off Sept. 1 as was previously reported. Stryk says ExxonMobil will instead work with people affected by the March 29 oil spill and continue providing...

State files reply in abortion ban lawsuit LITTLE ROCK (AP) — State attorneys have filed a reply in support of a motion for partial summary judgment in a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of a new Arkansas law banning most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy. The reply filed by the attorney general’s office Friday in federal court in Little Rock says the “informed consent” portion of the law is constitutional and should be removed from the lawsuit. It says the law first req...

Boozman criticizes marketing money for health care LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A U.S. senator is criticizing a decision to spend more than $24 million to market the new federal health care system in Arkansas. Sen. John Boozman says that with the national debt at $17 trillion, the American people cannot afford what he called an “Obamacare ad blitz.” The Associated Press reported Thursday that $24 million will be spent on marketing in Arkansas — marking the second-highest amount per resident in the natio...